About 
Along with an updated preview for CBS and Showrunner Elwood Reid's Tracker S03E08: "Eurydice," we have a look ahead to S03E09: "Good Trouble."
Posted in: NBC, Peacock, Review, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl
SNL 51 Makes Fun, Twisted Return: Drunk Raccoon, Cousin Planet & More
From a drunk raccoon to "Cousin Planet" and more, there was a whole lot to like about SNL's return this weekend. Here's a look at what worked.
After heading into a two-week break, riding the momentum from what was the season's best effort to date, NBC's Saturday Night Live returned this weekend with host Melissa McCarthy and musical guest Dijon. Long story short? SNL has become a welcoming showcase for comedic actors who are willing to trust the SNL process and turn themselves over to it. McCarthy has already given us five great examples of why she should be in the "Five-Timers Club," but this weekend's effort left us feeling like she's been a long-running SNL cast member. The writing this week was intense, unique, biting, weird, twisted, knife-twisting, and more – everything we were hoping for from a return episode. The cast is coming together nicely, vibing even more like an ensemble than ever before. It wasn't perfect; we had a sketch or two that needed to have some time shaved off, things like that. But overall, the sketches hit – no misses – with the following four hitting our radar especially hard.
Here's a rundown of the four sketches that were personal highlights, with serious props to Dijon for holding things down strong on the musical front with "HIGHER!" and "Another Baby!":
"Pentagon Press Conference Cold Open": SNL was back in razor-sharp satirical form with this weekend's Cold Open. We covered it in more detail on Saturday night, but we wanted to spotlight how much we like seeing Colin Jost in play outside of "Weekend Update." Also, at this point, all other Trump impressions bow at the feet of James Austin Johnson's take because Johnson nails that impression in every possible situation you can imagine – even sleepy.
"Weekend Update: Drunk Raccoon on Breaking Into a Liquor Store": Bowen Yang is always going to rule the "Weekend Update" desk when it comes to pulling off some very random feature interview characters. Seriously, the dude made an iceberg work. That said, Sarah Sherman is right there to make that conversation a lot more interesting. Sherman and Jost have great chemistry together, and it was great to see a different dynamic between the two that wasn't just Sherman taking shots at Jost. But this was all about Sherman, who brought the right combination of manic physical comedy and excellent line delivery needed to make it work.
"A Helping Hand": McCarthy plays a kindly old neighbor who looks to give her neighbor's son a helping hand with the troubles that life has to offer him. Like gifting him a gun to help deal with bullies. Or sending over two prostitutes to help him with his problem with girls. Yeah, it gets that twisted – and then, the sketch takes an even darker twist, leading to… a happy ending? We don't want to spoil it, but serious props go to McCarthy and the production team for instilling an authenticity to it.
"Cousin Planet": My favorite sketch of the night and the one that everyone should be talking about. Looking to answer the question of where cousins go after the holidays, once the family visits have wrapped, Jane Wickline and Veronika Slowikowska stormed our screens with musical guns blazing. From concept to execution, Wickline and Slowikowska created a moment of musical uniqueness that I want to see more of (translation: every show). The biggest compliment that I can throw out there is that the song was still in my head when I crawled out of bed this morning. As sketches go, this one reminded me of Bill Murray's iconic soap mic sketch: the kind of sketch that could (and should) be SNL-defining for Wickline and Slowikowska.
Saturday Night Live Season 51: Melissa McCarthy & Dijon
8.5/10
After heading into a two-week break, riding the momentum from what was the season's best effort to date, NBC's Saturday Night Live returned this weekend with host Melissa McCarthy and musical guest Dijon. Long story short? SNL has become a welcoming showcase for comedic actors who are willing to trust the SNL process and turn themselves over to it. McCarthy has already given us five great examples of why she should be in the "Five-Timers Club," but this weekend's effort left us feeling like she's been a long-running SNL cast member. The writing this week was intense, unique, biting, weird, twisted, knife-twisting, and more - everything we were hoping for from a return episode. The cast is coming together nicely, vibing even more like an ensemble than ever before. It wasn't perfect; we had a sketch or two that needed to have some time shaved off, things like that. But overall, the sketches hit - no misses.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
